Shocking Facts About Indiana Jones Movies

Shocking facts about Indiana Jones movies

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When a new Indy movie came out, I had to think back to all the past movies and wonder what “wild” behind-the-scenes stories there were. And as it turns out, pretty shocking and even sinister things happened! Listen…
1. Indiana Jones may avoid snakes like the plague, but in real life, the filmmakers of Raiders of the Lost Ark couldn’t get enough snakes on set. In fact, 7,000 real live snakes were used for the iconic Well of Souls scene alone.
According to director Steven Spielberg, “We [initially] had 2,000 or 3,000 snakes and they barely covered [the set]. I couldn’t get a wide-angle shot. I couldn’t go back because I would see there were no snakes on the sides. So I said to Robert Watts or Frank Marshall (the film’s producers), “We need to get more snakes.” You know what we really need? “We need about 7,000 snakes on top of the 2,000 we have here to make it work.”
2. And in case you’re wondering where you get thousands of snakes at once, Spielberg went on to explain in an interview with Dick Cavett that they actually had to source the snakes “everywhere” — Scandinavia, France, Germany , and India (where they specifically got the deadly cobra snakes).
3. Although Indy is never bitten by a snake in the film, in real life many people were actually bitten during filming, including the snake guides (there were four) and some actors. “They’ve always been bitten by everything except cobras of course, which is deadly. But the pythons were after everyone,” Spielberg said.
He continued, “In the movie, if something bites and snaps and grabs a character, it’s a python. And these are real teeth and this is a real actor asking, ‘Why am I here? And why did I make this movie?!’” ‘”
Spielberg even said that first assistant director David Tomlin was bitten by a python. However, he went on to explain that all it took for a snake handler to “move the reptile by its tail was to let go of its tail”. [Tomlin’s] Wrist.”
4. Incidentally, the cobra that Indy faces in the Well of Souls scene actually spits venom at Harrison Ford. Luckily for Ford, however, the shot was filmed with a pane of glass between Ford and the deadly cobra for security reasons, which is actually seen in older ones versions of the film (the reflection was digitally removed in a 2003 re-release of the film). ).
5. Coming from the snakes, let’s talk about all the bugs in Temple of Doom. For the crawl scene, in which Indy and Willie crawl through a room full of live bugs, the production team collected around 30,000 bugs and 50,000 roaches. 🙃
According to Spielberg, the insects were “very small, and it takes about a thousand bugs to cover a square foot of area.” And it wasn’t easy fighting all those tiny bugs on set. Apparently the heat of the lights made things worse because the bugs ran away to find dark areas to hide away from the light.
Spielberg explained that the only way to properly photograph all bugs is to basically throw them away. He said, “Often the only footage in the film is of a dump truck full of bugs on site, the camera caught it and that would be it.”
6. Unfortunately for actress Kate Capshaw (who played Willie Scott), that meant the crew also had to literally pour buckets of bugs from the ceiling at her.
7. Kate Capshaw was so nervous filming the scene where she was covered in insects that she actually took a “relaxant” to get through it.
Capshaw said: “I really asked people: is there a pill? There’s gotta be something I can take to keep from freaking out. I don’t want everyone to look at the film and say, ‘She’s on drugs!’ But I took something that acted like a relaxant.
BTW, I admire the fact that this shot is clearly NOT Harrison Ford. (Assuming he’s a deputy or maybe even one of the bug hunters, LOL.)
8. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, all the rats that Indy and Elsa encounter while searching the water-filled catacombs of Venice were real. In fact, the filmmakers had 2,000 rats specially bred to bring the spooky scene to life.
According to Sideshow, “The producers reportedly ordered the disease-free rodents from the same company that previously supplied snakes and critters on set, and then replaced them with mechanical rats during the torch scene.”
9. In Last Crusade, many of the Nazi costumes worn for the film were actually authentic Nazi uniforms. During his research, costume designer Anthony Powell delved deeply into historical photographs of Nazi uniforms. He then shared images, sketches and drawings with co-costume designer Joanna Johnston. Johnson and her team then scoured the continent to find as many real suits as possible.
10. Harrison Ford, who is known for performing many of his own stunts, was actually injured MANY times while filming the Indiana Jones movies…
11. …in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ford injured his ribs when he was being dragged behind a truck. But that wasn’t even the worst of his injuries on the set of the first film. He actually tore his cruciate ligament after being run over by the undercarriage during another stunt.
Ford explained during a Reddit AMA, “I tore a cruciate ligament in one of my knees, I can’t remember which knee, the scene where I fought the tall German mechanic on a plane called the Flying Wing. I was run over by the undercarriage and injured my knee.”
12. During the filming of Temple of Doom, Ford apparently suffered a herniated disc from riding elephants for a long time.
In the book Mythmaker: The Life and Work of George Lucas, Lucas stated, “He [Ford] could hardly get up but was there every day so the shooting didn’t stop. He was in excruciating pain, but he was still trying to make it happen.” Production eventually halted to give Ford time to recover.
13. And then, Ford most recently injured his shoulder while filming “Dial of Destiny” in 2021, which required a break from filming. Ford was later seen wearing a sling in London following his injury.
Disney’s official statement reads, “During rehearsals for a fight scene, Harrison Ford injured his shoulder. Production will continue while the appropriate course of treatment is evaluated and the filming schedule will be adjusted as needed over the coming weeks.”
14. The legend has now spread that Indy shoots the Cairo Swordsman dead in Raiders of the Lost Ark because Harrison Ford was ill that day and was therefore not up to the task of depicting a complicated fight scene that had originally been planned.
What you may not know, however, is that Ford was SO sick with dysentery that he developed HORRIBLE diarrhea and “had a really hard time being outside his trailer for more than 10 minutes at a time.”
15. Speaking of dysentery on the set of Raiders, almost the entire crew contracted it while filming in Tunisia… including the stuntmen. And this led to some last-minute line-up changes.
Because the stuntmen were too ill to work when they filmed the scene where Indy steals a plane after escaping the Well of Souls, producer Frank Marshall actually had to step in as the pilot who is knocked unconscious by Marion.
Spielberg later joked, “Maybe the stuntmen were sick on purpose” because the temperature in the cockpit was “about 140 degrees.”
16. Finally, for all the creepy creatures, injuries, and illnesses, one of the darkest (and saddest) behind-the-scenes facts of an Indiana Jones movie was the death of crew member Nic Cupac during the making of Indiana Jones and the Dial. Determination.
According to Deadline, Cupac, who served as director of Indiana Jones 5, died suddenly in Morocco. The article said: “Cupac’s family has not released any further information regarding the cause of death, but it was unrelated to the making of the film. According to media reports, he was found in his hotel room in Fes.”
And there you have it, some of the wildest and darkest behind-the-scenes facts…
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Disney premieres exclusively in theaters on June 30th. You can watch the official trailer here:
- - Watch this video on YouTube

When a new Indy movie came out, I had to think back to all the past movies and wonder what “wild” behind-the-scenes stories there were. And as it turns out, pretty shocking and even sinister things happened! Listen…

1. Indiana Jones may avoid snakes like the plague, but in real life, the filmmakers of Raiders of the Lost Ark couldn’t get enough snakes on set. In fact, 7,000 real live snakes were used for the iconic Well of Souls scene alone.

According to director Steven Spielberg, “We [initially] had 2,000 or 3,000 snakes and they barely covered [the set]. I couldn’t get a wide-angle shot. I couldn’t go back because I would see there were no snakes on the sides. So I said to Robert Watts or Frank Marshall (the film’s producers), “We need to get more snakes.” You know what we really need? “We need about 7,000 snakes on top of the 2,000 we have here to make it work.”

2. And in case you’re wondering where you get thousands of snakes at once, Spielberg went on to explain in an interview with Dick Cavett that they actually had to source the snakes “everywhere” — Scandinavia, France, Germany , and India (where they specifically got the deadly cobra snakes).

3. Although Indy is never bitten by a snake in the film, in real life many people were actually bitten during filming, including the snake guides (there were four) and some actors. “They’ve always been bitten by everything except cobras of course, which is deadly. But the pythons were after everyone,” Spielberg said.

He continued, “In the movie, if something bites and snaps and grabs a character, it’s a python. And these are real teeth and this is a real actor asking, ‘Why am I here? And why did I make this movie?!'” ‘”

Spielberg even said that first assistant director David Tomlin was bitten by a python. However, he went on to explain that all it took for a snake handler to “move the reptile by its tail was to let go of its tail”. [Tomlin’s] Wrist.”

4. Incidentally, the cobra that Indy faces in the Well of Souls scene actually spits venom at Harrison Ford. Luckily for Ford, however, the shot was filmed with a pane of glass between Ford and the deadly cobra for security reasons, which is actually seen in older ones versions of the film (the reflection was digitally removed in a 2003 re-release of the film). ).

5. Coming from the snakes, let’s talk about all the bugs in Temple of Doom. For the crawl scene, in which Indy and Willie crawl through a room full of live bugs, the production team collected around 30,000 bugs and 50,000 roaches. 🙃

According to Spielberg, the insects were “very small, and it takes about a thousand bugs to cover a square foot of area.” And it wasn’t easy fighting all those tiny bugs on set. Apparently the heat of the lights made things worse because the bugs ran away to find dark areas to hide away from the light.

Spielberg explained that the only way to properly photograph all bugs is to basically throw them away. He said, “Often the only footage in the film is of a dump truck full of bugs on site, the camera caught it and that would be it.”

6. Unfortunately for actress Kate Capshaw (who played Willie Scott), that meant the crew also had to literally pour buckets of bugs from the ceiling at her.

7. Kate Capshaw was so nervous filming the scene where she was covered in insects that she actually took a “relaxant” to get through it.

Capshaw said: “I really asked people: is there a pill? There’s gotta be something I can take to keep from freaking out. I don’t want everyone to look at the film and say, ‘She’s on drugs!’ But I took something that acted like a relaxant.

BTW, I admire the fact that this shot is clearly NOT Harrison Ford. (Assuming he’s a deputy or maybe even one of the bug hunters, LOL.)

8. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, all the rats that Indy and Elsa encounter while searching the water-filled catacombs of Venice were real. In fact, the filmmakers had 2,000 rats specially bred to bring the spooky scene to life.

According to Sideshow, “The producers reportedly ordered the disease-free rodents from the same company that previously supplied snakes and critters on set, and then replaced them with mechanical rats during the torch scene.”

9. In Last Crusade, many of the Nazi costumes worn for the film were actually authentic Nazi uniforms. During his research, costume designer Anthony Powell delved deeply into historical photographs of Nazi uniforms. He then shared images, sketches and drawings with co-costume designer Joanna Johnston. Johnson and her team then scoured the continent to find as many real suits as possible.

10. Harrison Ford, who is known for performing many of his own stunts, was actually injured MANY times while filming the Indiana Jones movies…

11. …in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ford injured his ribs when he was being dragged behind a truck. But that wasn’t even the worst of his injuries on the set of the first film. He actually tore his cruciate ligament after being run over by the undercarriage during another stunt.

Ford explained during a Reddit AMA, “I tore a cruciate ligament in one of my knees, I can’t remember which knee, the scene where I fought the tall German mechanic on a plane called the Flying Wing. I was run over by the undercarriage and injured my knee.”

12. During the filming of Temple of Doom, Ford apparently suffered a herniated disc from riding elephants for a long time.

In the book Mythmaker: The Life and Work of George Lucas, Lucas stated, “He [Ford] could hardly get up but was there every day so the shooting didn’t stop. He was in excruciating pain, but he was still trying to make it happen.” Production eventually halted to give Ford time to recover.

13. And then, Ford most recently injured his shoulder while filming “Dial of Destiny” in 2021, which required a break from filming. Ford was later seen wearing a sling in London following his injury.

Disney’s official statement reads, “During rehearsals for a fight scene, Harrison Ford injured his shoulder. Production will continue while the appropriate course of treatment is evaluated and the filming schedule will be adjusted as needed over the coming weeks.”

14. The legend has now spread that Indy shoots the Cairo Swordsman dead in Raiders of the Lost Ark because Harrison Ford was ill that day and was therefore not up to the task of depicting a complicated fight scene that had originally been planned.

What you may not know, however, is that Ford was SO sick with dysentery that he developed HORRIBLE diarrhea and “had a really hard time being outside his trailer for more than 10 minutes at a time.”

15. Speaking of dysentery on the set of Raiders, almost the entire crew contracted it while filming in Tunisia… including the stuntmen. And this led to some last-minute line-up changes.

Because the stuntmen were too ill to work when they filmed the scene where Indy steals a plane after escaping the Well of Souls, producer Frank Marshall actually had to step in as the pilot who is knocked unconscious by Marion.

Spielberg later joked, “Maybe the stuntmen were sick on purpose” because the temperature in the cockpit was “about 140 degrees.”

16. Finally, for all the creepy creatures, injuries, and illnesses, one of the darkest (and saddest) behind-the-scenes facts of an Indiana Jones movie was the death of crew member Nic Cupac during the making of Indiana Jones and the Dial. Determination.

According to Deadline, Cupac, who served as director of Indiana Jones 5, died suddenly in Morocco. The article said: “Cupac’s family has not released any further information regarding the cause of death, but it was unrelated to the making of the film. According to media reports, he was found in his hotel room in Fes.”

And there you have it, some of the wildest and darkest behind-the-scenes facts…

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Disney premieres exclusively in theaters on June 30th. You can watch the official trailer here:

Watch this video on YouTube

Disney / Lucasfilm / Via youtube.com